Stage show recreates movie with tornado, flying monkeys

Published: Sunday, June 06, 1999

WILLIAM KERNSA-J Entertainment Editor

One stage isn't big enough to hold a full scale production of little-produced musical favorite ''The Wizard of Oz,'' so director Mitchell Britton concluded, what the heck, he'd just use the entire Civic Center Theatre.

That's why actors may be traveling, arm in arm, down a Yellow Brick Road that appears unexpectedly in the theater's aisles.

Similar productions were announced, and canceled, in the past, no doubt because of a shortage of either funding or production time.

Rehearsals for the Lubbock Community Theatre production, being staged Wednesday through Friday, have taken place for more than three months. The budget? With the community rallying with volunteers and donated material, Britton expects production costs to top out at $22,500.

That's still a large sum demanding huge ticket sales to reach a break-even figure but, if Britton is biting his fingernails, the nervousness doesn't show. Rather, he's proud of accomplishing what many felt would be impossible. His goal, he said, was to reproduce the classic movie version of ''The Wizard of Oz'' on stage with, perhaps, a few little twists.

Indeed, his rehearsal process began with a cast party at which actors and technical crew members all sat down with sodas and chips and watched a videotape of 1939's ''The Wizard of Oz,'' and Britton occasionally interrupted to explain how certain scenes could be reproduced and which ones would be cut.

The arrival of the Wicked Witch of the West? Modern day pyrotechnics. Flying monkeys? Off-stage springboards. The twister? Britton says there will be a tornado on stage and the farmhouse, on rollers, will move from one side of the stage to the other. The long journey from Kansas to Munchkinland to the Scarecrow's cornfield to Oz and the Wicked Witch's castle? Multiple sets, obviously, with use of the entire hall eliminating boring blackouts for audiences.

The Civic Center Theatre is not a specific ''trap door theater,'' so Britton is trying less obvious techniques for the scene in which the Wicked Witch melts, saying only, ''I'm hoping my witch has very tough knees.''

Britton even wants to present the opening and closing scenes in Kansas in black-and-white or as close to black-and-white as possible with all scenes in Oz making use of bright colors. But as for the Horse of a Different Color, well, that one did stump him. He's already working with a dog. He's using a miniature horse to pull a carriage in Oz. He even has a veterinarian (Ronda Clark, Toto's owner and trainer) backstage. But the potential for migraines increased at the mere thought of a large horse in the show.

On the other hand, while that particular horse has been left in a pasture, Britton, choreographer Suzi Schumacher and music director David Kozamchak ''let their imaginations run wild'' and resurrected the famous Jitterbug sequence deleted from the final film a sequence in which the Wicked Witch sends a Jitterbug that bites the principal characters (yes, even the Scarecrow and Tin Man) and leaves them dancing uncontrollably to the point of exhaustion.

The hot air balloon, the Wicked Witch's crystal ball and the arrival of Glinda the Good Witch also served as challenges, by the way.

Keep in mind that Britton's ''all-time favorite movie'' is ''The Wizard of Oz.'' He knows his Oz trivia and Oz history.

He even attended a Halloween party one year dressed as the Scarecrow, accompanied by a woman dressed as Dorothy. Britton is using both costumes in the play.

Britton is not the only Oz aficionado involved. Bill Woodard, initially cast in the Frank Morgan roles of Professor Marvel and the Wizard, was, recalled the director, ''the one person who wanted that role more than anybody else. Bill grew up in California around (actor) Ray Bolger; he used to play with Bolger's grandson. And Bill wanted only to play the wizard. We did no pre-casting; actors had to prove themselves at auditions.

''But Bill was heads and shoulders my wizard. Then he reminded me that Morgan also played the guard at the gate to Emerald City. He wanted that part too. In this version, that character sings. Bill still wanted the part.

''And as the cast puts it, 'Bill rocks.' ''

It was Steve Winters' ''childhood dream to someday play the Scarecrow,'' said Britton, ''and I'd have to say he's worked harder than anyone else in the cast. He gives me 200 percent every night. In fact, he has so much energy, I have to say, 'Whoa, back off a little.' ... How much energy? Let's just say he's ripped his pants out twice already.''

Enough said.

Britton no doubt is correct when he mentions that veteran theatergoers know the capabilities of Tim McIntire, who also is no stranger to children's theater. The director noted, ''Tim commands the stage so much as The Cowardly Lion. He just lights it up, so much that I have to play him up. There are times when I know that I have to loosen the reins and let him run with his character.''

For the good witch (played by Barbie Brown), Britton was seeking ''grace and beauty, someone with a natural sparkle and glow.''

There was plenty of competition for the role of the Wicked Witch of the West and, during the first audition, Britton worried whether Laura Mac Bryan could pull it off. As he put it, ''She's such a sweet person and I didn't know if she could play nasty. In many ways, a villain's role is the hardest to play. That person has to look inside and finds things about themselves that they don't like.

''But wow, Laura is so scary when she's in character. Plus, she is talented enough to create a difference between Miss Gulch, who is more of an astute snob, and the witch, whom she perceives as gnarled and hunched over and just mean to the point of madness.''

The lead character had different requirements. ''For the role of Dorothy,'' said Britton, ''I needed someone with the size to play a little girl and the maturity to handle anything I might throw at her, including working with a dog. (Twenty-year-old Texas Tech student) Jessica Culwell is marvelously talented. She was my number one choice in looks, in acting and definitely in dance ability.

''I think Jessica would be the first to admit that she is not a voice major, but she's more than holding her own as a singer, too.''

Britton's stage version of ''The Wizard of Oz'' is ambitious, to say the least, with a huge cast, animals on stage, rolling sets, a three-level castle, pyrotechnics, sound effects and dozens of brightly dressed Munchkins.

''There are still times I go home and tell myself I must have been out of my mind when I took this on,'' he said. ''But I could never have passed up the opportunity to use the stage to tell one of my favorite stories. And if I gave audiences something besides the movie version, I know they'd feel let down.

''It's a lot to live up to.''

William Kerns can be contacted at 766-8712 or wkerns@lubbockonline.com